Tag Archives: running

Unfortunately week 3 of training for the Space Coast Marathon didn’t go exactly as planned. I would actually say not even close. Oh well, lucky for me it’s still early in training and it was a step back week so no harm done!

Before I get into the weekly training recap I thought I would share a few quick things. First, I’ve decided to finally go Paleo. I added a link there if anyone is interested in the basics of what Paleo is. For me it began with eliminating dairy to determine if I had an allergy. Every day when I woke up I would have a [relatively] flat stomach and every night when I went to bed I would literally look 4 months pregnant. The bloat and discomfort became so unbearable that I decided to look into altering my diet (I hate that word, for me diet = lifestyle, not a short term thing). At FitCrew, a Paleo or Primal way of eating is encouraged (though not required) and Andrew works extensively with helping us eat the right things. So after a year and a half I finally decided to listen to him. And you know what? It works for me.

Of course I’m new to Paleo (about a month or so) but already I’ve noticed a significant decrease in the bloat and my abs are even thinking about making an appearance (this is exciting for me since my abs and I have never officially met)! My energy level is high and I feel like someone peeled a layer of gauze off my brain. I’m having fun with different recipes and enjoying researching all the hows and whys of this way of living. I’ll try to make an effort to update as I progress through this but in the meantime here are a few of my favorite Paleo blogs:

What Runs Lori <– Not sure if she is full Paleo but she has a lot of Paleo recipes.

Second, Mike and I have made some upgrades to my tri bike. We re-wrapped the bars with matching blue wrap (after youtubing a how-to), added my beloved Speed Play pedals in blue and ordered new arm pads for the aero bars. Right now it’s sitting at our LBS getting a little tune-up to make sure everything is in working order and to tighten up the bottom bracket and front hub. I can’t wait to get it back in my hot little hands and ride it! Here it is with the new matching upgrades:

Third, way back when Jena and I decided to run Space Coast Marathon we made a pact that we would run it in our sports bras (aka shirtless), weather permitting. We of course are hoping that it would be too cold for this but we’re talking about Florida in November, anything can happen with the weather. We dubbed this #operationsportsbra and have been using it as extra motivation to complete our workouts and eat the right things. I’m pretty proud to say that so far I’ve done 3 shirtless runs so far, twice in the dark (lol) and once in the broad daylight at a busy park. My confidence has come a long way but I still worry what others think. It’ll come, in time. Check out Jena’s blog to see her progress (hint: she’s been running shirtless too!)!

Week 3 Training

The reason for the setback this week? Tendonitis behind my left knee that, because I kept pushing instead of taking it easy, spread down into my left calf. I’m feeling much better today and am ready to start fresh with week 4. So here’s a look at what I did accomplish in week 3:

Monday: Planned- Rest; Actual- Rest

Tuesday: Planned- 4x800m interval run + ride; Actual- Rest. I knew in advance that the ride wasn’t going to happen because Mike was out of town, which meant I had to get home right after work to let the dogs out. I stupidly left my run for the afternoon and got stormed out.

Wednesday: Planned- FitCrew + 3m recovery run; Actual- FitCrew in the AM + 4x800m interval run in the PM. I shifted things back a day which resulted in running intervals on tired legs. After the intervals is when I felt the tendonitis flare up. The morning’s WOD (3 x 15 min AMRAP WODS):

The evening interval run splits (target pace for the 800s was 7:50 min/mile):

Thursday: Planned- FitCrew; Actual- FitCrew. The tendonitis was definitely present and when I showed up to FitCrew I stupidly kept quiet about the pain until after the WOD. I couldn’t help myself though, this WOD was made for me. Running with a fire hose? Yes please! Did 20lb fire hose, 115lb back squat, 3 rounds in 41 minutes.

I was hobbling a little on Thursday afternoon and so I decided to actually use my brain and rest until I felt better. Unfortunately that was for the next 3 days.

Friday: Planned- 6 mile run + FitCrew; Actual- Rest.

Saturday: Planned- Ride; Actual- Rest

Sunday: Planned- 8 mile run; Actual- Rest

At least today I’m feeling 95% better and am confident that I’ll be able to run pain free tomorrow. This is a lesson I seem to have to learn over and over, I’m definitely guilty of wanting to do it all. Moving forward I’ve dropped the interval runs and vow not to do speed work on tired legs. And of course, not push through pain, that’s just stupid.

So remember when I bought a road bike, oohhhh…. two months ago? Well. I immediately wanted a tri bike also. Yet I showed immense restraint and avoided perusing the racks at my LBS (local bike shop). HOWEVER, I can’t say the same for my husband. He knew I wanted one, and really, he wanted another bike to tinker with (because 3 isn’t enough) so he constantly checked Craigslist looking for the perfect deal. We knew we would go the used route again because my requirements were a good brand, full carbon frame and at least Shimano Ultegra components. These things added up are expensive! So to make a long story short, I present to you my latest gift from my wonderful husband:

The Orbea Ordu, full carbon frame and Shimano Ultegra components. The story of this bike is too amazing not to share. The original owner (aka the guy we bought it from) had herniated 3 disks in his back and was paralyzed from the waist down. The doctors predicted he would never walk without a cane again. After intense physical therapy he not only walked unassisted, he trained for and completed a full Ironman! This is the very bike he rode those 112 miles on! I feel so inspired by the history of this bike and honored to be the next one to ride it. Who knows, maybe it has two Ironmans (Ironmen?) in it! 😉

Moving right along to the running addiction from the cycling addiction. Week two of training for the Space Coast Marathon went really well, I can’t wait until the long runs start getting longer, that’s when the fun really begins!

For the non-runners, a Tempo run is where you run for a set time or distance and gradually build up to a pre-determined speed (usually between 10K and half marathon race pace) and hold that speed for a length of time and then gradually decrease speed. So for example, I ran 10 minutes at an easy pace that gradually got faster, then 10 minutes at Tempo pace (8:09-8:31 min/mile) and then 10 minutes at a pace that gradually got slower.

Wednesday– Planned: FitCrew + 3 mile recovery run; Actual- FitCrew + 3 mile recovery run (10:10 min/mile average pace). The run was glorious! The slower (for me) pace helped dust off what felt like cobwebs from the previous days workouts and the morning’s WOD. Speaking of WOD… I really struggled with Candy, it was a very humbling WOD to say the least.

Friday– Planned: 5 mile run + FitCrew; Actual: 5 mile run (9:43 min/mile average pace) + FitCrew. I went for a run first thing in the morning then came home and refueled, changed and went to FitCrew. Surprisingly I felt really good and strong at FitCrew despite already having gone for a moderate paced run. The WOD (95lb front squat):

Sunday- Planned: 11 miles with last 2 miles at goal pace; Actual: 11 miles with last 2 miles at goal pace! Most of my long runs have goal pace miles thrown in the mix. Last training cycle I ran a lot of my long runs on fatigued legs (thanks FitCrew) and found it really helpful, mentally. This time around I decided to add in goal pace miles to simulate what it would feel like to run that pace on tired legs, aka near the end of the race.

Last week I felt like I had dead legs during my long run and mentioned it to Andrew. He made some fueling suggestions and they worked like a charm! Not only are my splits awesome but I also felt strong. Thanks Andrew! [Fueling/calf stretching after miles 4 and 8]

I’m very pleased with my training for week 2. I return to the orthodontist at the end of the month with high hopes that he gives me a better window of dates for surgery. I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to officially register for Space Coast Marathon before the fees go up!

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This week was the last of my base building, aka fooling around. For the past many weeks, what I’ve done for training has been whatever I’ve felt like. I made a base building plan but didn’t really stick to it. Instead of forcing it, I decided to just wing it since I suffered from both a strained calf and burnout at the end of this past season. I feel like this week I finally found my mojo again [and no Andrew, it wasn’t on the pull-up bar! 😉 ] and only missed one workout, my evening ride that got rained out. The stubborn calf has been feeling mostly good too, so that helps.

Before I get into this week’s training, here are a couple photos from the past week:

The dogs and I had an impromptu photo shoot. I was foam rolling one night, they were being extra cute and I had my phone handy.

And here are some notable eats from the past week. A Rum Runner from my trip to Frenchy’s with Jena, Paleo Protein Waffles and beef lettuce wraps with sweet potato ‘fries’ (baked) and steamed asparagus.

Tuesday: Planned: ride (cycling); Actual: FitCrew. My afternoon ladies ride was cancelled due to rain. I did 95 lbs on the bench press and modified air dyne for jump rope [I’m still not doing any jump rope or box jumps since my calf is still acting sketchy].

Thursday: Planned: 4 miles; Actual: FitCrew + 3 miles recovery, 10:20min/mile average [treadmill] Obviously I flip-flopped Wednesday and Thursday training. {I had a full skin check with the dermatologist, everything looks good!} On the WOD: 115 lbs deadlift. I started with the air squats/rope climb with a time of 14:20, took a short rest and then did the deadlift/HSPU in 5:XX. As I was deadlifting Niels came over, laughed his evil little laugh and told me he had a surprise when I was done. The surprise? 6 laps [running] on now shredded legs. Whee! The feeling reminded me of roughly mile 16 of a marathon.

Friday: Planned: FitCrew; Actual: FitCrew. I did 85 lbs on the bench press and between 5-8 reps on each for every round. We had about 15 minutes left once everyone was done so Niels lined us [20ish people] all up and had us do a plank challenge. Hold plank and everyone takes a turn doing 20 push-ups. Thankfully we only went down the line once but we were in plank [I took little breaks] for close to 10 minutes. Evil.

Saturday: Planned: ride (cycling); Actual: 21.34 mile ride with Mike, 19.9MPH average. We were obviously struggling in the first 5 miles with the head-wind and the overwhelming quad soreness from Thursday’s WOD. Sometime during mile 6 a [faster] friend of ours passed us and told us to jump in the draft of his 3 person group. You don’t gotta tell me twice! We stayed with them until the half-way point and then made our way back to the car with a tail-wind. Overall an awesome ride!

Sunday: Planned: 8 miles; Actual: 8 miles, 10:00min/mile average.

This run felt really good mentally and physically. I forgot how much I love waking up before the sun, strapping on a full fuel belt and just cruising. My target long run training pace range is 9:29-10:29min/mile. Today my pace was on the lower end of that range and I was making an effort to just relax, go easy and not worry about pace. My low heart rate and giant smile at the finish was very encouraging. I’ll be training for a 3:55 marathon (8:59min/mile pace) and if my long runs continue to go this well, I might adjust that goal a bit. Space Coast Marathon here I come!

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The last time my husband and I did a race together was last May at the Inaugural Police Appreciation 5K. Sure, we did Empire State together, but he did the half and I did the full so that doesn’t really count. So this morning I dragged Mike into my race morning routine consisting of the usual early wakeup (430am), coffee, easy-to-digest food and water.

We’re a Mizuno loving family!

We made the 45 minute trip up to Seminole where the race was being held at Walsingham Park.

We met up with Dave and retrieved our bibs and chips before warming up a bit. My game plan was to pace 7:30 the whole way and make sure I don’t go out too fast. That worked for the first mile and maybe half of the second before the wheels fell off. I can’t even tell you what went wrong, my legs started to slow down and despite my best efforts, I never did get back on pace again. My heart rate was definitely in the ‘I hate life’ zone starting at the end of mile 2 so that was obviously a factor and the heat and humidity probably played a role as well.

I missed a PR by seconds but am overall happy with my time (23:56 chip time), considering the conditions. It was good enough for 1st in my age group anyway.

Mike did really well and beat me with a time of 23:16. Both him and Dave placed first in their age groups also!

A close up of those sweet medals:

This is my 4th time placing in my age group and the 3rd time I’ve age group placed this season. Coincidentally (I think not) every single time has been since I started training with the fabulous Andrew and Niels of FitCrew.

Overall we had a good time and I’m glad Mike was so successful at this race considering registration was one of my birthday gifts to him. 😉 Everything flowed smoothly and the post race food was top notch (I may or may not have eaten a muffin). Our medals are pretty awesome and parking was painless. This is what I expect from a small local race and Seminole Stampede definitely delivered.

[Disclaimer before I continue: I was not compensated to do this post, my opinon is my own. I paid my own entry fees.]

Waaayyy back in October, Jena and I started our journey to becoming Half Fanatics (Uranus level) with the 1st race of this series, the Florida Halloween Halfathon. This was my first half marathon ever, despite having already run 2 full marathons. I’m so glad to have had this as my first; the course and weather were perfect, I was with great friends and I blew away my time goal. Now, Jena and I hadn’t intended to do all 4 of these. Originally we were going to skip the Clearwater Halfathon because we are Florida runners and the 4 bridge climbs intimidated us.

Well. Then we heard at the Florida Holiday Halfathon (while waiting in line for the port-o-potties) that we would recieve something extra special for doing all 4 and we suspected that the extra special would be an additional medal. Chris Lauber, you sure know the way to our hearts! So after the Florida Holiday Halfathon, which owns my current half marathon PR, we signed up for Clearwater and Florida Beach Halfathons.

We struggled but laughed (and whined) our way up each bridge at Clearwater and both blew up during Beach. The memories and the loot made it all worth it though and I’m so glad to have shared the experience with Jena. Also, with the completion of the series meant we were also qualified for the Uranus level of Half Fanatics, something we’ve been working towards all season.

Finishing the Challenge and becoming Half Fanatics!

An additional bonus to the special swag was qualifying for series awards. To qualify you had to run 3 of the 4 races, if you ran all 4 your slowest time was dropped and your placement was determined by your fastest 3. I placed 4th in my age group (just missed that medal-darn!) out of 13 with a cumulative time of 5:51:31, that’s with the slowest time dropped. Jena did even better but you’ll have to go to her blog to see! Speaking of all that swag, here it is:

Of course what also made the experience even better was the fact that each race was incredibly well organized, the swag was awesome and the after parties always had great food and entertainment. I can’t say enough great things about Chris Lauber, his races and the volunteers that make it all possible; I definitely hope to participate again next season.

Mike and I will be doing the Yaslowitz/Baitinger Challenge at the Police Appreciation Run, also a Florida Road Races event that supports an amazing cause very close to our hearts. If you’re local I hope you come out and join us! *cough*Jena*cough* 😉

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The final race of the 4 Florida Gulf Beaches Road Races half marathon series is complete! This was my 6th half marathon of the season and while it isn’t my last (Flying Pirate next month), it was the last one I would be running competitively. I was planning on this race being the 1:50 breaker but unfortunately it didn’t happen.

The morning started like any other race morning with an early wake-up, coffee, oatmeal and water. Unbeknownst to Jena and I (she stayed the night) when we left my house we were about to experience Murphy’s Law. It started with a giant rock that competed for space with my front driver’s side tire less than a mile from my house. Luckily Jena was following me in her car so we ditched mine (with a flat tire) on the side of the road and headed to the race.

Since we arrived very early (as advised by the race director) we got through the pay booth and parked quickly without any problems. After picking up our chips and our series finisher shirts (it’s aawweessoommeee) we headed back to the car to wait. Since I’m a giant clutz, my foot found the only exposed electrical wire, tripped and nearly face planted into the parking lot. It was then that Jena sealed her fate by saying, ‘you better be careful, it comes in 3s.’

Several port-o-pottie trips later (stupid digestive system) we headed out for our warm-up jog. It was still dark out and when we crossed the parking lot to one of the beach restrooms Jena tripped over a parking curb and ate pavement. She did a pretty amazing tuck and roll that almost made it look like she meant to do it.

After all that crazyness we squeezed into the starting pack near the front and were off. I started off at goal pace and it was anything but easy. My legs felt strong but the rest of my body was fighting it. My plan was to stay in the 8:25-8:35min/mile range for the first 10 miles, then I would pick it up to an 8 flat for the final 5K.

This is early in the race when I was still feeling good.

Unfortunately my entire right side seized up into a horrific cramp right around mile 6 that at first I tried breathing deeply through it, then slowing down and then finally walking. I must have looked a sight because one very kind lady slowed down to ask if I was ok.

Once I got started again I decided that a sub 1:50 was out of reach and that I might as well slow down and not kill myself. Coming around the final bend I saw Jena jogging towards me.

Now we look happy here but I assure you there was a lot of whining going on!

I crossed the finish fast and strong at Jena’s urging and collected both of my medals, the one for the Beach Halfathon and the one for finishing the entire series.

There was a lot of self-reflection in those final miles and that included the fact that I’ve had an amazing season. Obviously I’m disappointed I didn’t hit my goal of breaking 1:50 but I’ve accomplished so much more than I thought I was capable of so I’m fine with it. My official competitive (with myself) race season is over and it’s now time to regroup. I have some other races on the calendar still but they carry no pressure, only fun and contribution to good causes. The plan now is to recover a bit. Through early June the training I have planned will be a bit more relaxed, more of an emphasis on CrossFit. With the incredibly successful completion of this season I have set some pretty big goals for myself for the next one.

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Another year, another Gasparilla Distance Classic. This was my third year participating and my second year running the 15K (ran the 5K my first year). I had the lofty goal of pacing 8 minute miles, which given my recent 5K and 10K performances wasn’t too much of a stretch. Unfortunately, like last year it was insanely hot and that really affected both my enjoyment level and performance. My horrible pre-race nutrition might have also played a teeny role. 😉

I started the weekend by hitting up the expo with Dave early on Friday. By the time we were done walking around and spending our hard earned money it was well past lunch time. We had seen the Tampa Downtown Market on our way in so we wandered in that direction in search of food. I made the rookie mistake of eating things that I was aware wouldn’t sit right in my sensitive stomach.

Not only did I have a tasty sandwich at Wick Witches Food Truck (can’t remember the name of it but it had chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers and mozzarella) but I also got a chocolate peanut butter cupcake from Tampa Bay Cupcake Company. [Just skip over these next few photos Andrew, nothing to see here!]

After having dinner with my husband, I headed back to Tampa to stay the night with Jena and her mom at a hotel on Harbour Island, about a mile from the start.

We did the usual pre-race early wake-up, coffee, food and whining. During our short warm-up jog I noticed that I was already sweating profusely.

The course for the 15K is a simple out and back along Bayshore Blvd. Most people say it’s really pretty and that they love running there. While I agree that the views are pretty, I dislike this course because of the lack of shade.

I started with Jena but I was really struggling to hold an 8 min/mile pace, which is what we had previously agreed to aim for. After 3 miles of not getting close to goal pace I knew it wasn’t going to be my race, so I told Jena to go on without me. I played all kinds of mind games, at first telling myself to keep my pace at 8:30, then to keep it under 9 and finally to keep it under 10. I was taking 3 cups at every aid station, 2 to drink and 1 to dump over my head. I was a very unhappy camper, which is evident in all my race photos.

Head down, shoulders tense, too long stride, claw hands- I was clearly struggling.

After the half-way point I started walking through all the aid stations to make sure I got enough to drink. I was cramping in my lower abdomen which I’m sure was the horrible food I ate the day before seeking revenge.

Official Results:

Last year I ran this same race in similar conditions in 1:38:50 so this year was a big PR for me. I would be lying if I said I was happy with my 15K time, I know I’m capable of more. Beating myself up over it is useless though and after I got home and took a lovely nap I was able to realize that. Plus, the race shirt and medal were much better this year:

Oh well, there’s always next year. (I only intend to sign up for a Gasparilla Distance Classic race next year at the expo if the weather forecast is favorable!)

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I registered for this Inaugural race waaayyyy back on 11-11-11 because they were having a $20 off promotion. A Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon for $60?! Sign me up! One of the biggest complaints I heard about this race (and all Rock ‘n’ Roll events actually) was the nickel and diming of the participants. Luckily for me and a few of my friends, $60 was all Rock ‘n’ Roll got out of us!

We hit up the expo on Saturday and parked at Central Cafe, where we first ate lunch. It was only about a mile walk and parking was free outside the cafe (rather than pay the $12-20 parking we saw at and surrounding Tropicana Field, where the expo was)! We took the standard expo photos:

And walked around the expo. I ran into a few friends, one I saw earlier in the day at the Saint Stephen’s Falcon Run 5K and one I hadn’t seen since a 10K a year prior! I resisted buying anything at the expo since I have just about everything I need (<— did I really just say that?!).

The course was a point-to-point with the start and finish being a couple miles apart. For this reason Rock ‘n’ Roll offered a shuttle service, for a price. I can’t remember how much the parking and shuttle ended up costing but it was more than $0. Instead we parked at my awesome coworker’s downtown condo for the price of free with a short walk (which we turned into our warm-up) to the start and an even shorter walk from the finish.

The corrals were very easy to get into and with the amount of people, I was really glad to have them. Jena, Sherry, Glenna and I all started in corral 2 but only Sherry and I stuck together. When I found out I was going to be racing the Saint Stephen’s Falcon Run 5K the day before Rock ‘n’ Roll I offered to pace Sherry, who was trying to break 2 hours. The weather was very cold but PR-worthy so I was confident that she would get there.

Chip time was 1:58:10

I had so much fun in this race! With the pace not being all out for me (conversational but not exactly comfortable) I was able to actually take in the sights and enjoy the bands/DJs along the course. The course took us around Tropicana Field, through downtown, around the Dali and then the Pier, up to Snell Isle and finally finishing in front of Vinoy Park. Sherry ran so strong and crushed her goal! Being there with her as she crossed the finish line, meeting her goal of a sub 2-hour half marathon, was very motivating!

We collected our medals and then headed off to find Jena and Glenna in the family meet-up spot. Prior to the race we had agreed to meet at the letter S but it was the only letter missing! Eventually we all found each other and headed back to the car to put on some more clothes. Jena said what we were all thinking, that it wouldn’t break her heart if we headed to brunch without returning to see the concert. So off to Cracker Barrel we went! I did hear that Flo Rida was pretty amazing but I’m not at all disappointed that we missed it.

Overall it was a great race. While I don’t agree with the extra charges that Rock ‘n’ Roll tried to tack on, I understand that they are in the business of making money. Plus I was able to participate in the event for only $60, which is very reasonable to me for a half marathon. The event was very well organized with on-time starts, well-stocked fuel stations and an easy finishers chute. Plus the medals are amazing!

That thing has some heft to it! I would consider doing this event again in the future if it fit into my schedule but I’m really hoping that someday they bring a marathon to Tampa Bay. Ya’ll know I love my 26.2!

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This race was my first 5K of this season and my first since December 2010! I’ve been mainly focusing on half marathons this season and have thrown in the smaller distances when convenient. Now I wouldn’t exactly call the timing of this race convenient for me but since it was sponsored by FitCrew, I went ahead and did it (aka I had no choice but to run it)! You see, I signed up for the St Pete Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon back on 11-11-11 when they were having their $20 off promotion. Then just a couple weeks ago Niels (one of my CrossFit trainers) informed me that I would also be running the Saint Stephen’s Falcon Run 5K with the FitCrew team. The fact that I was running RNR the following day wasn’t a valid excuse since several of my fellow FitCrewers were as well!

So I adjusted my goals for the weekend and decided to go for a major PR in the 5K and offered to pace my friend Sherry to a sub-2 hour finish in the RNR Half Marathon. I’m so glad I did because I had a great time at both races! First let’s talk about the 5K!

The course was an out and back that started and ended at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School with a good portion of the race running along the water.

The course was beautiful but the pesky thing about running along the water is that there is often wind! Since a cold front was moving into the area it was especially windy that day and unfortunately it turned into a horrible head wind after the turn around.

Now my previous 5K PR was 25:55 back in December 2010 but since I’m much faster this season I really didn’t know what to pace. My overall goal was to keep my pace sub-8 but ultimately I wanted to break 24 minutes. A look at my splits confirms that I haven’t run a 5K in a loooong time!

Unsure of how to pace myself combined with the excitement of running a race, I went out way too fast on the first mile. Most of the second mile wasn’t horrible until we hit the turn around and obviously the third mile I was all but wishing for death.

My heart rate was pretty typical for a short race. High and continuously rising.

This was a super small race so I was pretty sure a lot of us FitCrewers would place in our age groups. I knew I was the third FitCrew girl to cross the finish line and that both the ladies before me weren’t in my age group. It turned out I was right! The large majority of us took home age group awards and I took home 1st place in my age group! Oh how I love small local races!

Me (pink) and Elisa (white), 1st and 2nd in our age group, both FitCrew girls! {photo courtesy of Calista Rutledge}

And of course a close-up of that sweet medal!

I wish I could have joined my FitCrew team for brunch but I had big plans to meet up with Jena and Sherry for the St Pete Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Expo! Look out for that recap next!

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It’s been a crazy two weeks with today being my first day off! I have 2 race recaps coming, a 5K and another half marathon. First though, I thought I’d share the WODs (workout of the day) from the last couple of weeks. I’ll even throw in a video of Mike from CrossFit the other day! 😉

Unfortunately you won’t see much running this first week because I got another sinus infection. I was still doing well at CrossFit but dreaded the thought of going for a run.

1/30: CrossFit.

2/2: CrossFit

2/3: CrossFit

This second week I had two races over the coming weekend so I scheduled my FitCrew training sessions accordingly. I also did a new (to me) speed work out, mile repeats, to test out my intended pace for the 5K I had on my race schedule for Saturday.

2/6: CrossFit + 4.5 miles

I loved my pace for this run! It felt easy, but was pretty fast (for me).

2/7: CrossFit + 3 x 1 mile repeats (5 miles total)

As you can see in the above splits, I didn’t quite finish that last fast mile. I blame the little girl that hit me in the quad with a softball. (I was running at a park with a track.) While it didn’t really hurt, she was only ~7 years old, it completely threw off my mental game.

I was very surprised to see my heart rate so low for this. I really felt like I was working really hard but my heart rate didn’t get that high. I expected to see it well into the high 180s but it never got higher than 182bpm and that was at the very end. Stupid brain always getting in my way!

2/8: CrossFit

2/11: Saint Stephen’s Falcon Run 5K- recap coming soon!

2/12: St. Petersburg Rock n Roll Half Marathon- recap coming soon!

And I’ll leave you with this:

Mike doing a 25 pound weighted rope climb (one hand each rope)! I have to brag for him for a minute, this morning at CrossFit he did a 70 pound weighted pull-up (2 actually)! Sorry ya’ll, he’s taken! 😉